October 6, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UT San Antonio) will work together to identify new peptide catalysts for medicinal applications. The project is part of the Connecting through Research Partnerships (Connect) program, that started in 2010 to foster more collaborative research between SwRI and UT San Antonio.
With SwRI-developed Rhodium™, a molecular docking and computer-aided drug design platform, researchers plan to explore the use of tetrapeptides, strings of four amino acids often referred to as the building blocks of life. Shorter strings of amino acids linked together form peptides, while longer strings with more than 50 amino acids generally form proteins. Both peptides and proteins orchestrate important cellular functions within the body.
Due to the rise in popularity of GLP-1 drugs, interest in the development of peptides for small-molecule therapeutics and vaccines continues to grow. GLP-1 drugs mimic natural peptides to manage diabetes and weight loss. Although, this study will not advance pharmaceuticals themselves, researchers hope to narrow down potentially viable tetrapeptide catalysts that can accelerate chemical reactions for more efficient synthesis of organic molecules, which is an important part of pharmaceutical development.
“We’re pushing the boundaries of what Rhodium was designed to do,” said SwRI Staff Scientist Jonathan Bohmann, who worked with computer scientists to develop the Rhodium platform in the early 2010s. Over the last decade, Bohmann and his team have sharpened the technology to screen millions of potential drug candidates based on the protein structure of viruses such as those that cause Covid-19, hepatitis and Ebola. This is the first time the Rhodium platform will go beyond drug discovery to identify catalysts.
Both research teams will work to adapt Rhodium to deliver computational data and a list of potentially viable peptide catalysts that researchers at UT San Antonio will then test and validate in their laboratories.
“The advantage of exploring peptides, these tiny pockets of proteins, is that scientists can easily produce and synthesize variations in the laboratory,” said Assistant Professor Dr. Jacquelyne Read, from UT San Antonio’s College of Sciences. “Peptides can exist in numerous combinations and shapes, but we’re very interested in solving for the unique challenges that come with that flexibility.”
Read hopes the process will not only accelerate discovery but improve efficiency and sustainability in the drug development field.
This project was funded (fully or in-part) by The University of Texas at San Antonio, Office for Research and Innovation and Southwest Research Institute.
To learn more, visit Structure-Based Drug Design or contact Camaron Brooks, +1 210 522 2357, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238-5166.